Munchie Mission

by Lauren Waqa

The amazing munchie mission began on a Sunday. Oh no wait, it was a Monday. Yeah, that’s right it was a Monday afternoon, after finishing off a full weekend of non stop partying. Christina had just gotten out of her creative journalism class around 4:30. She scrambled around through her favorite worn out black purse that Alice had given her as a gift for her birthday and pulled out a cigarette. She quickly lit her freshly packed Camel 99’s and began her trek up to the bus stop.

Christina was a quiet girl. She wasn’t too over the top unlike her room mate Alice. Suddenly her pants pocket began to vibrate. She quickly slid her frozen hands into her pocket reaching for her phone. It was Alice.

“I think we have psychic powers because I was just thinking about you. What’s up?” Christina said without hesitation.

“Hey, I’m driving back from Frankie’s so don’t get on the bus. I’m going to come swoop you from school,” Alice told her.

“Sweet! I’m freezing out here! I’ll wait for you in the front and we can session once we get home,” she giggled.

“Sounds like an amazing plan! Start thinking of what we want to eat today because I’m starving,” Alice yelled from the phone.

About five minutes later Alice pulls up into the front with her old school 1966 black hardtop, Ford Mustang. It was pretty beat up from all the years it had been put to work but it pretty much still had all the pieces. Yeah sure almost half the black paint on the car was chipping making the car two-toned. But it still had its sexiness. Two out of the four hubcaps were still in place holding up the rusty beaten up body of a muscle car. It was definitely a head turner, but for all the wrong reasons. Alice quickly saw her chance to pull into a spot in front nearly taking out a woman in a neon jumpsuit and vest on a bike next to her.

“Watch where you’re driving!” the women screamed as she swerved her handle bars.

“Get your bike riding ass off the road! What are you trying to be a vehicle or a pedestrian? Pick one! I’m trying to park here!” Alice yelled through the passenger’s window making sure the woman heard her.

Alice was a feisty one. She always had a mind of her own and that she would always get her point through. When it came to school Alice knew she wasn’t ever really the school type. Amazingly she somehow managed to just get by on time in order to graduate. But since then she knew she would never go back. Her philosophy was that school just wasn’t for everyone. People knew of Alice as that one obnoxiously loud chick that might just got off on you in the grocery isle but deep down people knew she had her heart in the right place. Although her family thought she was just lazy, Alice knew she was meant for something more. She just hasn’t found it yet.

“Your going to get us arrested again.” Christina laughed as she got into the car.

“And it smells like a dank tank up in this bitch!”

“Stop acting like you had no help in making it smell this way. Get in the car I’m starving.” Alice said.

They pulled into the parking lot of their two bedroom apartment and gathered all their necessities. When they got into their apartment Christina noticed a note on the table. Under the note was a large plate of hot steamy and freshly baked chocolate chip cookies.

“Hey, it’s from my brother Carl. He must have dropped them off when we were out,” said Christina.

“That’s super cute, he baked us cookies like the little pastry chef he is.” Alice giggled.

Christina laughed and opened the letter to read aloud.

“I wanted you two to test out my new recipe. I made a (special) batch for the national holiday tomorrow. I hope they aren’t too strong. I don’t want either of you to get sick like last time so don’t get carried away, no matter how tasty they are. Hope you girls have a good April 20^th tomorrow! Love, Carl.

Christina’s brother was famous for his great pastry making skills. But recently he found a liking to making edible pastries for the cannabis club around the corner. The perk was that he got to keep most of the leftovers for himself.

“Hell yes! I love when you brother makes us the taste testers to his new recipes.” Alice yelled with joy.

“They smell delicious”, Christina said as she picked up the plate of cookies lifting them to her smiling face.

Alice grabbed two glass cups from the cabinet and placed them on the kitchen counter. She turned to the fridge praying she wasn’t going to be one of the people in those Got Milk commercials. To her surprise there was still a carton of milk waiting to be finished. She grabbed the carton and quickly looked at the expiration date.

“Best by 4/18/09. Sweet, we still have a good two more days left.”

They carried the plate of cookies to the living room anxiously waiting to devoir the lovely mountain of edibles. They each started on their first cookie, slowly chewing every warm gooey, chocolate chunk bite they took. Making sure they enjoyed every last piece. Every bite tasted like a little piece of heaven. Being the base heads that they are, Alice and Christina completely forgot about Carl’s warning note. One cookie turned into two which eventually ended up being three. A loud rumble filled the room.

“These cookies aren’t cutting it for me. We need to get some real food. I don’t care what it is; I just need something in my stomach.”

“We can’t just buy anything. We have to get something so incredible it will make our mouth’s water for days. Something so amazing it will satisfy our taste buds to the full extreme like they say in the commercials!” Christina said as she headed back to the kitchen.

As she went to grab another cookie, Christina noticed there was a small piece of paper attached to Carl’s note. She flipped the note over exposing a 20 dollar coupon to the world famous Chinnabon.

“I know where I want to eat,” she exclaimed in a forceful monotone voice.

“Where? Because I’m ready to go whenever you are.” Alice said as she began to look for her keys.

Christina flashed Alice the coupon from across the room and suddenly without a word both knew where they needed to mission to. She tossed the cookie back onto the plate where the rest of them were piled. She gave it a long stare. Looking down at the cookie Christina knew something wasn’t right. And suddenly it hit her. Not the cookie, but what the cookie was made for.

“We need to get to Cinnabon quick!” Christina yelled

“I know I’m super hungry too. But let’s chill out for a sec. I’m getting a little tired.” Alice replied as she put her feet up on the ash covered coffee table.

“We need to get to Cinnabon quick before those cookies hit us! We forgot they were the ones my brother made us.”

“Oh shit! Grab my keys and let’s get a move on! Here’s the plan, we smash over to hilltop mall grab our cinnabons and smash back home in time for the cookies to hit us.” Alice said.

“Okay so we ate three cookies each right? Meaning it should take three times longer for us to start feeling them. It makes perfect stoner math sense!” Christina explained.

“I was never one to brag in math but, surprisingly that totally makes sense to me. Let’s go!” she said.

The pair of stoners one again gathered their necessities such as, papers, gum, eye drops, a lighter, Fabreeze and of course, the cinnabun coupon. They were positive that their trip was going to be nothing short of an amazing adventure.

They raced down the stairwell hoping neither one of them would trip over their clumsy feet. Surprisingly they made it to the car without a scratch on them. Alice hopped into the driver’s seat and strapped on her seatbelt like she was preparing herself for a NASCAR cup race.

“Let’s try not to get pulled over tod..”

Before Christina could finish her sentence they were off.

“Sorry, but I’m starving! I’ve never wanted something so bad before.” Alice said as she pulled onto the freeway.

Suddenly it went quiet. Neither one of them said a word. Finally Christina spoke up

“Is it just me or does the road looks like we are in a videogame?”

Alice began to giggle.

“Dude! You totally right! I feel like I’m in some Super Mario Kart racking game. I’m driving on Rainbow road!” Alice screamed with dodging cars left and right.

With their eyes small as pebbles they both looked at the rearview mirror noticing the mile long line of traffic held behind them. Numerous cars began passing by then violently honking their horns and yelling though their windows. Alice looked down at the speedometer showing that she was driving a slow 45 miles per hour.

“Oh my God look out for that dragon!” Christina screamed.

“AHHH it’s huge!” Alice yelled as she jerked the stearing wheel to the right so she could dodge the mystical creature in her path.

Doing so, the car crashed into the barricades in the emergency lane. They both looked up astonished. Smoke began to billow in front as they listened to the engine give out.

“Get out quick! The car is going to explode!” Christina yelled with fear.

They boy quickly grabbed their things making sure the still had the coupon and jumped out the car. Running for their life, they each did a tuck and roll tumble behind the barricades waiting for the explosion. They peeped over to look; the car was still in tact. Christina turned around and looked behind her.

“Where the fuck did that dragon go?”

“Holy shit my car is even more ruined then it was before!” Alice screamed as she walked over to her totaled car.

“I swear there was definitely a dragon on the road.” Christina said examining the car.

“Forget that stupid dragon. We need to get out of here. Some one probably already called the cops,” Alice explained.

“Yeah so, we need them to help us.” Christina said.

“Christina! We are high as fucking kites right now! What are we going to say we were trying not to hit the mystical dragon in the middle of the freeway?” Alice screamed.

And so they began their walk to Hilltop Mall. Scaling the freeways side Alice stared looking for signs for exits they need to get off at. Christina stuck out her thumb wishing that someone would come rescue them. Eyes wide open they watched the bright lights of the cars zoom right past them like a light show. They felt cold and scared and of course neither one of them had a phone. After about 30 minutes of walking, to their surprise a tiny green Mini Cooper pulled up beside them.

They turned around exposing their sensitive squinted eyes to the mini car. Neither one of them could see who was in their driver seat. They walked over to the car with hesitation.

“Hello gals, you know it’s not safe to be walking on the freeway at night.” The old woman said as she opened up the passenger door.

She was an 80 year old woman, with a face covered in wrinkles. She wore a bright blue Nike track suite covered in pins saying #1 Grandma and triathlon champion. It looked like she was ready to go do a marathon.

Alice and Christina looked at each other with a blank stare. They weren’t sure it this was actually real. It was just moments ago where they thought they saw a dragon in the road.

“Well, are you gals going to get in or what?” The old woman asked with a confused look on her face.

Without a response they both piled into the tiny car and off they went.

“My names Mertel. Where are you gals headed to?” she asked.

“Umm, Hilltop Mall please,” Alice said from the back seat.

“Thanks so much for picking us up.” Christina said.

“No problem! I saw you two on the road and reminded me of my own grandchildren getting into some teenage mischief like you two. There’s no need for an explanation. It looks like you two have been through a lot. You know I was once a teenager too.” Mertel said with a giggle.

Suddenly, the car walls began to shrink. Alice started breathing heavily palms sweaty, eyes wide open she looked around the car searching for an escape route. Damnit, she was trapped. The car began to get smaller, and smaller and smaller. Alice closer her eyes tight knowing she was about to have a panic attack.

“Is your friend alright back there?” Mertel asked looking through the rear view mirror.

Alice’s breathing got heavier and heavier until she squeezed her eyes shut. She could see the cinnabuns circling through out her mind until she heard a familiar voice in the distance.

“Alice…Alice…Alice…ALICE WAKE UP WE MADE IT!” Christina yelled as she shook Alice awake.

She opened her bloodshot eyes to find herself in the parking lot in front of Macys. Without hesitation she shot out of her seat and started running towards the doors.

“Please excuse my friend, but thank you so much Mertel. It was nice talking to you and as a token of my appreciation, here are some freshly baked cookies we have left over. Since I don’t have any money I figured this is the next best thing. Make sure not to eat too many at once,” Christina said as she presented Mertel with a zip lock full of cookies.

“Why thank you so much dear! You two be safe now. And here’s a bit of change for the bus.”

“Enjoy the cookies!” Christina yelled waving to Mertel as she drove off into the distance.

Looking at her watch Christina realizes she only had ten more minutes until they closed. So she bolted into the mall swerving in and out of people traffic finally making it to the cinnabun stand. Alice was already holding a spot in line for them. Finally they were next. A fresh tray of cinnabons came out as they approached the counter. Alice slapped down the coupon.

“Give me everything I can get with this.”

The woman behind the counter gave a little chuckle, as she examined the coupon and said.

“Sorry girls, but this coupon is expired.”

Their hearts dropped. Was all their hard work really slipping through their fingers? Was it all for nothing? Pain began to build in their empty stomachs as their cinnabons floated away.

“But you two are in luck, we need to get rid of all these leftover cinnabons since we are closing. It looks like you two are our last customers anyway. So why don’t you guys take a couple of boxes with you and let’s call it a night. There’s no need to pay. It looks like you two have been through a mess tonight.” The woman said looking them up and down.

She grabbed the biggest box she could find and began piling on the warm gooey bun after bun until there was no more. She opened the cool refrigerator exposing the last two milk cartons of the day waiting to be chugged.

“Wow funny how things work out,” She said with a smile.

Both speechless, they grabbed the boxes and milk and headed over to the benches in the parking lot.

“I can’t tell you how happy I am right not,” Christina whispered with a slight tear in her eye.

“No talking. It’s cinnabun time,” Alice quickly responded.

They picked up their first bun, examining it left and right. The warm creamy icing covered the whole cinnabun seeping over the sides and swirls. You could smell the strong aroma of cinnamon, brown sugar and pure sweetness. They took the first bite. A rush of satisfaction filled their bodies after every chew of the warm and softly baked bun. Every bite felt like a miracle had come over them. The sips of milk felt as if a waterfall from heaven was quenching every bit of thirst they had. It may have been a mission, but their cinnabun run was well worth it. And they enjoyed every last bite of it.